Buying a franchise in Belgium: test your staffing plan

A franchise outlet may look profitable on paper, yet its staffing requirements may be difficult to meet in practice. Long opening hours, compulsory training and busy periods call for more than a broad ‘wages’ allowance in your budget. You share a business format with the franchise network, but as an independent business owner, you will generally remain responsible for your own employees. Before buying, establish how much work the concept actually requires and how much freedom you will have to organise it.

1. Translate the franchise format into actual working hours

Start not with the number of employees the franchisor suggests, but with the work that needs doing each week. Ask what opening hours, service standards and minimum staffing levels the franchise format requires. Also establish whether these expectations are contractual obligations or merely recommendations.

A shop may be closed to customers while still requiring considerable work behind the scenes. This includes receiving deliveries, counting stock, cleaning, cashing up and handling local administration. In a service-based franchise, preparation, travel and appointment follow-up may add further hours.

Build a weekly rota covering three areas:

• Customer service: how many people need to be available at the same time during each part of the day?
• Work outside customer-facing hours: which tasks take place before opening or after closing?
• Supporting tasks: how much time is needed for training, meetings and administration?

Then add up the total staff hours required. Do not confuse opening hours with staff hours: if two employees are needed at the same time, each hour counts twice. Record your own working hours separately so that you can see how much work is covered only because you are there.

2. Establish who makes staffing decisions

A standardised franchise format may impose requirements for availability, customer reception and professional expertise. That does not mean every franchisor has the same say in your staffing policies. The contract should make clear which decisions remain yours and which standards you must meet.

Ask, for example, whether you can decide how many people to employ, what their duties are and how their shifts are arranged. Must a manager complete training before being allowed to work independently? Can someone else cover their role during that training? Who pays for training and travel? And must employees attend meetings outside their usual working schedule?

Ask the franchisor to explain what happens if you are temporarily unable to find enough staff. Can you adjust opening hours, limit appointments or organise the work differently? An obligation without a workable contingency arrangement can cause immediate problems if an employee falls ill or leaves.

Ask for a specific description of the required roles and staffing levels, rather than simply accepting reassurance that ‘a small team is enough’. Have important agreements about your freedom to organise the business recorded in writing. This clarifies what the franchise format requires without assuming that the franchisor takes over your responsibilities as an employer.

3. Calculate the full cost of a workable rota

A gross monthly salary is not a complete staffing budget. Ask a Belgian payroll and social security administration provider, known locally as a ‘social secretariat’, or an employment law adviser to calculate the costs and obligations relevant to your business activity and employees. The applicable joint committee — Belgium’s sector-based body for employment matters — and relevant collective agreements may be decisive.

Alongside wages, allow for employer contributions, holiday-related costs, any bonuses or premiums, insurance and payroll administration. Also check the rules on working time, rest periods and any Sunday or evening work. Do not assume that one standard set of rules applies to every franchise format: the specific business activity and employment circumstances matter.

Next, draw up three rotas:

• a normal week with the expected level of customer demand;
• a busy week requiring additional staff;
• a week in which a key employee is absent.

Calculate the total cost of each rota and check that the necessary skills are available. Temporary cover is of little help if only a trained manager is authorised to perform a particular task.

Put a realistic value on your own hours too. A model that works only if you routinely fill every gap needs rethinking. Ask yourself what it would cost to replace your operational work, even if you do not plan to hire that cover at the outset.

4. Make good use of the statutory preparation period

Belgium has no standalone law governing the entire franchise agreement. However, specific pre-contractual disclosure rules apply to commercial cooperation agreements under Title 2 of Book X of the Belgian Code of Economic Law. General contract law is also relevant, as are the applicable employment rules if you recruit staff.

Under Article X.27 of the Code of Economic Law, you must receive the draft agreement and the pre-contractual information document at least one month before entering into the agreement. Use that period to have the contract’s staffing requirements checked against your rota and cost calculations.

Do not treat this disclosure obligation as a guarantee that you will receive a complete staffing plan. Make specific requests for any missing operational information. Before signing, have any inconsistencies clarified between a proposed ‘small team’ and extensive mandatory opening hours.

Practical conclusion: buy only when you can translate the franchise format into a workable, legally compliant and affordable staffing rota. The key check is not how many employees are recommended, but how many working hours the outlet actually needs.